Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Soviet Citizenship Application and Visa Expiration

On October 19, Oswald was probably interviewed in his hotel room by a man named Lev Setyayev, who identified himself as a Radio Moscow reporter but was likely also acting for the KGB. Two years later, Oswald told American Embassy officials that he had made only routine, apolitical comments to Setyayev, but the interview may have been an attempt by the KGB to assess him or elicit compromising statements; the interview was apparently never broadcast. On October 20, Rima informed Oswald that the “Pass. and Visa Dept.” wished to see him, and the following morning he was interviewed by an official regarding his citizenship application. The official offered little information and no encouragement, saying only that he would check whether the visa could be extended. Oswald returned to the Hotel Berlin, but that afternoon was notified that his visa had expired and that he had to leave Moscow within two hours.

Suicide Attempt and Psychiatric Hospitalization

In response to the unfavorable decision, Oswald cut himself above his left wrist in an apparent suicide attempt. Rima Shirokova found him unconscious in his hotel room and had him taken to Botkinskaya Hospital, where she stayed by his side as interpreter into the night. Oswald was confined to the psychiatric ward for three days. A psychiatrist concluded that he was not dangerous and could be transferred to the “somatic” department. Hospital records noted that Oswald had come to Russia to apply for citizenship and had inflicted the injury “in order to postpone his departure”; they also recorded that he claimed to have graduated from a technical high school in radio technology and radio electronics, and that he “regrets his action” and “intends to return to his homeland” after recovering. While hospitalized, Oswald was visited frequently by Rima and by Roza Agafonova of the hotel tourist office, and his diary entries during this period reflect a gentler, friendlier attitude than his earlier cold focus on his status in Russia.